In today’s episode of The No Limits Selling Podcast, we have Kyle Clarkson with us. He is the Real Estate Agent at Century 21 Signature Real Estate.
Kyle Clarkson’s Tip: “ Lead generation is the true job of a Real Estate Agent”.
Guest Bio:
For over 11 years Kyle has helped buyers and sellers realize their dream of home ownership. He takes pride in himself, in attention to detail, hard work, and being available for his clients. Since 2004, he has both worked with clients in assisting them in real estate needs as well as trained real estate agents on how to better their business and serve the consumer. Kyle’s knowledge and experience helps his clients to achieve their goals of home ownership.
Find Kyle Clarkson: Website, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook
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[Podcast Transcript Using Artificial Intelligence]
Umar Hameed 0:01
Are you ready to become awesomer? Hello everyone! My name is Umar Hameed, I'm your host on The No Limits Selling Podcast, where industry leaders share their tips, strategies and advice on how you can become better, stronger, faster. Just before we get started, I've got a question for you, do you have a negative voice inside your head? We all do, right? I'm gonna help you remove that voice and under 30 days guaranteed, not only remove it, but transform it. So instead of the voice that sabotages you, there's one that propels you to much higher levels of performance and success. There's a link in the show notes, click on it to find out more. All right! Let's get started.
Umar Hameed 0:40
Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of the No Limit Selling podcast today. We have Kyle Clarkson with us today. He's a realtor. He's got his pulse on the market. Kyle, welcome to the program.
Kyle Clarkson 0:51
Appreciate it. Thanks for having me.
Umar Hameed 0:52
So tell us how long have you been a realtor?
Kyle Clarkson 0:54
I start in 2004. So 18 years now.
Umar Hameed 0:58
So you've been through lived down market before?
Kyle Clarkson 1:01
Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Umar Hameed 1:02
So what was that, like? You got money, you got business. Market is doing really well. All of a sudden, we hit Oh, 708. And then what's a nice boy like this doing in industry like this?
Kyle Clarkson 1:11
Yeah, so those were some dark days. For me personally, I, you know, I had some success for five, you know, and then rolling in those good years, and then 8,9,10 rolled around. And, honestly, you know, I maxed out credit cards, I had to do some debt consolidation, I took a second job. Ultimately, I told my wife and like, if I can find a job that pays me 55,000 and gives me benefits, I'm going to take it. Well, I got fortunate enough that it was in real estate and continued as a real estate educator for about 3 years.
Umar Hameed 1:46
Nice.
Kyle Clarkson 1:46
Before I got back into selling, but learned a lot in those days, both the good and the bad.
Umar Hameed 1:52
So it's kind of interesting, you know, when you've kind of put, so I don't really believe that, you know, if you say I'm going to do a supermodel, I think it really, really powerfully that that's going to happen. But if I go on a date a supermodel, then the chance of me doing it go up dramatically, even though they still might be 1%. But just by you saying I want a job like this with benefits. And then when you find it, and it was fortunate you stayed in the industry, because that allowed you to just step back and easily. So did you maintain your license?
Kyle Clarkson 2:20
Yeah, I maintain my license. I sold a few houses on the side. But that's really when, you know, I learned some sales skills early in my career. But where I really learned how to run a business was, as I was training people, I started listening and following other real estate educators. And that's when I really learned the business. So when I got into it when I was done with that, and get back into selling much more prepared that time around.
Umar Hameed 2:46
Brilliant. And what were the takeaways that you took from those dark years in the desert?
Kyle Clarkson 2:52
You know, at that time in my career, I was just hoping. And what I mean by that is I was hoping the phone would ring and I did not have a business plan. I did not write now I kind of teach what's called "Five spokes", that you should have five different spokes of business that are generating leads for you. And so I was just waiting for the phone to ring friends, family, you know, whatever, where today, I've got these different sources, and we build a plan around each one of these indicators. And are these lead sources to grow our business. So that was the big thing.
Umar Hameed 3:26
Yeah, going back to the dark days. Did you ever go like this to the phone? Ring? So one of the "Five Spokes" so let's go through each one of those. Take your time, one at a time. What's the first one?
Kyle Clarkson 3:40
The first and the biggest would be my SOI, past clients, you know, friends family.
Kyle Clarkson 3:44
Absolutely.
Kyle Clarkson 3:47
Yep. So most important.
Umar Hameed 3:49
So let's talk about that. So your best guess how many people does the average person have in this sphere of influence?
Kyle Clarkson 3:56
The average person?
Umar Hameed 3:57
Yeah.
Kyle Clarkson 3:59
I don't know. Several 100 If not 1000?
Umar Hameed 4:02
Yeah. so people wouldn't think that it's like, oh, yeah, I got my my best friend body. My ex girlfriend. No, she hits me. Nevermind her. And we think this like a handful. But yeah, there's at least a couple of 100 people that know you, and at least can tolerate you.
Kyle Clarkson 4:16
Yeah.
Umar Hameed 4:16
So getting people to build a dear viewers build that list. Even if you're a successful fricking realtor, I bet you you're ignoring a lot of your sphere of influence that you kind of stay in touch with the top five people, but it's the other 90-195 people that can because they've got a sphere of influence as well. So yeah, maintaining that. So do you notice successful Realtors kind of lose sight of that sometimes?
Kyle Clarkson 4:39
Oh, yeah, it's easy to do. I mean, you get busy. So I think part of the problem is you get busy with task. You know, I'm checking my email, checking my text messages I'm going into, you know, for us, it's dot loop, whatever it might be, and just doing real estate tasks instead of think about, you know, lead generation and following up with, you know, those that are close to me in my Soi. So easy to Do even when you've been in for 18 plus years, so.
Umar Hameed 5:03
So here's my thoughts on it. Like selling a house or helping a buyer buy a house is a privilege. And that's like, Gee, the nice part of the job, the best part of the job is when the transaction happens. Number one, you get a paycheck. But more importantly, oftentimes you get the people saying, you know, Thanks, Kyle, for being there. And walking us through this, we couldn't have done it without you is amazing. But the real freaking job is that lead generation is what your job is as a realtor. And the dessert is actually getting to do the transaction. And people get it the other way around. My job is doing this. It's like no, if you don't have enough leads, you're gonna die.
Kyle Clarkson 5:39
Absolutely. 100% true.
Umar Hameed 5:41
So lesson number two sphere of influence was number one, what's number two?
Kyle Clarkson 5:44
So when I got back into selling one of the things I remember my wife telling me, she said, you know, you're great at real estate. You know, I was I knew the business what I was terrible at is letting other people know that I was a good real estate agent. So I wanted to create ways to generate leads. I knew my marketing was terrible. I knew my lead gen was terrible. I so I started buying leads on Zillow at that time. And so Zillow..
Umar Hameed 6:12
Coaching for Zillow, they were expensive.
Kyle Clarkson 6:15
Yeah, so it was it was expensive. And every year I kept spending more money on Zillow, but I did it because ROI, there was a return on it. And so I would I started maybe a couple 100 bucks, and it turned into 1000s of dollars, and I still do Zillow today, it's a big part of our business is Zillow, they now have what's called a FLEX program, I joined that about a year ago now and have been doing the flex with my team, so.
Umar Hameed 6:42
Nice, so actively reaching out to people, because a lot of times people have this thought that you know, they're gonna think I'm desperate, or I only have a friendship because I want something and all of that stuff is happening inside our heads. I was talking to this guy who was an artist, and he was telling me about the artists mindset. It's like, you know, hey, if you like to earn a lot of money on your art, you're selling out. And it's all about the art and the creativity. And he was at this show, and he's a sculptor with steel, and some of his pieces made it into the Game of Thrones. So it was frickin talented. And so he had this, he's at the show, nobody's coming to see his stuff at this, like, you know, art show. And then one guy comes over to his booth. And he says, How much is that sculpture? And he goes $15,000 This is the guy response $15,000. And are heroes thinking, Oh my God, I've set the price too high. But what he didn't realize was the guy was going, Holy shit, it's only $15,000. But he heard the Oh, my God is too expensive. And just before he opened his mouth to get a discount guy says I'll take it. And it was just a really good lesson. But he still to this day, this was like years ago, it still feels uncomfortable charging, what his art is worth. And the same thing for realtors in this situation is that if I reach out to my friends, they're gonna think it's all about me and I want something from you. And that's not the reality at all. So one of the things we need to do as leaders is to help people realize don't map your version of the world to other people. Don't assume goes, you know, this person is dressed like a bum. They can't afford it. That's a little lady. Yeah, she could be a billionaire to shut the hell up.
Kyle Clarkson 8:16
We have that all the time. And you know, being in Iola, a lot of farmers have a lot of money and they dress you know, very plain, I drive old pickup trucks, but they'll come in and pay cash for whatever because they have money. So don't you can't judge certainly.
Umar Hameed 8:30
When Sam Walton was at the height of his powers, and he was the richest man in the world. He drove a fricking pickup truck and it was a beat up one too, because he loved it. Actually, once I went, I used to sell to Walmart and I went to Bentonville, Arkansas, wherever they happen to be. And they had the Sam Walton Museum, and they had his like, his office and his pickup truck there and there was a guy there, literally with a tear in his eye with his arm around his wife, they were watching and it was like that's how profound a thing it was for them to be there. So we've got 1, you know, sphere of influence, 2 actually reach out to them. What's number three?
Kyle Clarkson 9:03
Well, Zillow was that one but three, so we, you know, have developed kind of a marketing plan. So, you know, social media is a big part, whether it be Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok. We do a lot of videos and there's probably not a week that goes by I was actually teaching a class yesterday at our national or our Iowa convention on Tik Tok. And one of the things I said, there's not there's not a week goes by that, you know, someone in the conversation does say, oh, man, I love your videos. And when I told them I'm like, part of it was just that, that top of mind awareness, and I can't always track that it's coming from that. But I know it does. And because I hear people tell me about a video where people tell me Yeah, I see it. I love it, keep doing it. So that's definitely one that one's a little trickier to track and measure than Zillow and our SOI. But definitely its the one.
Umar Hameed 10:02
We people take the time to tell you. That's a real deal. What's number four?
Kyle Clarkson 10:05
Number four would be open houses. So we want to generate leads through open houses. So obviously you got to get listings to do that. But..
Umar Hameed 10:16
No you don't, you don't need listings. There's people in your office right now that are too dumb to go to open houses, and they're looking for you to help them. And I know that a Giants in this industry, they still do open houses because that's where they pick up a lot of clients and a lot of other agents think it's a burden, but it's really an opportunity.
Kyle Clarkson 10:36
Well, and for me, you know, I'm a converter and so we've kind of put people in these, you know, prospector converter, networker marketer, and I found that I'm a converter and converting can be expensive. That's why you know, Zillow is perfect example of being converter. But open house is something that's fairly for free. So definitely, you know, something that, you know, we we spend our resources and time doing open houses push for our team to be doing open houses to generate new leads.
Umar Hameed 11:08
So, so number five, what's number five?
Kyle Clarkson 11:10
It's another lead gen for us. It's realtor.com leads, Zillow, realtor.com. Like I said, I live in that converter space. Something I learned about myself in the last six or seven years that once I get in front of people, I do a really good job. So I wanted to create more ways to do that.
Umar Hameed 11:26
More opportunities to do that. And even this one things you need to kind of figure out is least my worldview is the most powerful version of me is the authentic version of me. Even if Kyle thinks I'm a jerk, which you probably do call, I can tell by your judging eyes. I'm gonna go man, I like hanging out with Umar. And I think once you find out who you are, and you're like, throw me in your lane. Hey, I'm a converter, I'm happy with it. And I got great ROI and make that happen. Rather than I'm going to be a prospector wouldn't be you. Which could you master the skill? Absolutely. Would you have fun on it? No.
Kyle Clarkson 12:03
I didn't get out of bed. And there's people that do what they love calling for sale by owners, they love door knocking. And, you know, that's how I got into real estate. And I don't get out of bed every morning, excited to do that. And by found building my business around being a converter, that I do enjoy it, I love it. And you talked about authenticity, I get an opportunity to meet new people all the time, and connect with new people. And I love that. I mean, that's my favorite part of this job. So.
Umar Hameed 12:27
Love that. I heard this thing once. Somebody was saying, you know, if you have the money to solve a problem, you don't have a problem. So there's a lot to that little statement, because a lot of people have the money to solve a problem like you do. Let's say you said I don't want to spend money on Zillow, I'm gonna like, roughing it out and you know, be a trooper and make this career that you're really enjoying into one that you don't. So dear listeners and viewers, if you got money to solve a problem, solve it move on with your life do where you're at the height of your powers, not where your weakest is like, the maker put you're here to succeed not to struggle. So stop struggling.
Kyle Clarkson 13:03
Oh, absolutely. Yeah, it was a realization for me, you know, talking about being the converter, but like, sometimes you need to spend money i That was part of my problem early in my career is like, I don't want to spend money, I don't have money, don't want to spend it. But you know, to build a business you, you have to. And it took me a while to realize that but certainly part of my growth.
Umar Hameed 13:25
Absolutely. And so a lot of times, you know, I'm a really smart guy. And we got some smart people in, in my company. But there's certain areas that we're not good at. And it's just we've suffered from trying to do it ourselves. And we do like a pretty poor job. But since it's your own baby you think is more beautiful than it is. But when you look at the results, and it's always been better, just say this kind of check, get somebody that knows how to do this, get them to do it, and we can focus on what we're good at. So Kyle, are you part of a team? Do you have a team?
Kyle Clarkson 13:55
Yeah, I have a team. So I have 12 agents that are on my team. And I have two employees that are on my team.
Umar Hameed 14:03
So brilliant. So tell me about one of the people that you're leading that was maybe don't name names, but unless you want to, that was struggling in some area of real estate. You saw what the struggle was and you help them see the light. Like tell us one of those stories. We help somebody kind of break through an area of struggle.
Kyle Clarkson 14:22
Well for you know, again, the space we live in Zillow, online leads, like many agents, especially new agents, that the struggle is getting going. And that's why you know, 80% of agents don't make it to year three. And I think what our team has provided is a path to have success early on. And I think of one particular agent on my team who jumped into real estate wanting to get into real estate was not on the team trying to figure it out, jumped on my team. You know, and here this can be your first full year in real estate and you may sell 40 houses.
Umar Hameed 15:02
That is it's frickin amazing.
Kyle Clarkson 15:04
So he's killing it. And it's exciting. What I love about it is like if I could bottle him up, because he's always tells me Hey, thanks. You know, I appreciate it. And, you know, when when you see that you're like, Well, you want to get more and how can I come alongside and give more and teach more and all that? So those are the kinds of things.
Umar Hameed 15:25
Love that. Kyle, last three questions.
Kyle Clarkson 15:28
Yep.
Umar Hameed 15:29
Question one. What brings joy and happiness to your life?
Kyle Clarkson 15:33
Well, I mean, there's generic answers. I have married for 10 years. And I have three kids. And it may be it's not generic, but I'm sure a lot of people say family, and certainly, you know, being able to coach my son's basketball team. Being able to go to the gym with my wife in the morning, you know, spending time because in real estate, it's a busy life, and there's nights and weekends. And so you got to make sure you schedule those things. So it brings me joy to have a job that you know, I get a build my life built built around my family. And that's definitely a big part of it.
Umar Hameed 16:09
Love it. What's one tip you'd like to share that would make our listeners viewers happier, more productive, more successful? What's the one kind of mind hack you'd like to share?
Kyle Clarkson 16:19
I would say if you are in real estate, to realize it is not a hobby, it is not a hobby. It is a business. And one of the big parts for me. And you know, I was I sold 30 houses at my peak before the market crashed. I got back into real estate. I went 40 6080 101 20 Sold 140 last year. Now my team is growing, we're going to sell, you know, almost 300 houses this year. And that happened because it's not a hobby, which means I get to build a calendar, I gotta build a schedule, I got to build a budget, I have to have a p&l put those things in place. And I never did it the first time around. And the second time around. I did and now it's about business. Yeah, I'm I sell real estate. But it it's a business first. So that would be my my big tip.
Umar Hameed 17:10
Because one of the things that can't tie it back to the beginning of the conversation is that had you stayed in real estate as a realtor to do this transformation, they probably wouldn't have happened. And if it would have happened, it would have taken me years of you like fighting the no this way it works and having that break in the middle was like a blessing for you. So Kyle, thanks so much for being on the program man. I really enjoyed our conversation and hopefully our listeners got a lot of value out of it.
Kyle Clarkson 17:35
I appreciate it. Thank you
Umar Hameed 17:41
If you enjoyed this episode, please go to iTunes and leave a five-star rating. And if you're looking for more tools, go to my website at nolimitsselling.com. I've got a free mind training course there, that's going to teach you some insights from the world of Neuro-Linguistic Programming and that is the fastest way to get better results.